The Bozeman weekly chronicle. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1883-1889, 1887-02-09


Twish Rate would not use that dreadful
slang, even in JEST" said Ms. Scott, in her
rocking chair at the French window, when
Josephine re-entered the parlor as her sister
walked briskly away. Il am afraid she is
being infected by the people at the station.
She ought to have change~
II was just thinking, said Josephine, look-
ing abstractedly at her mother, athat would
try to get John to take her to San Francisco
this winter. The Careys are expected, you
know; she might visit thefa.n
"I'm afraid IL she stays here much longer
she won't care to see them It all She seems
to care for nothing now that she ever liked
before" returned the old lady ominously.
Meantime the subject of these criticisms
was carrying away her own reflections tight
ly buttoned up in her short Jacket. She had
driven back her dog Spot smother one of her
disillusions, who, giving way to his lower
nature, had once killed sheep-as she did
not wish her Jacqnes-lilsa contemplation of
any wounded deer to be incousistently inter-
rupted by fresh outrage from her COM
panion. The air was really very chilly, and
for the first time in her mountain experience
the direct rays of the sun seemed to be shorn
Of their power This compelled her to walk
more briskly than she was conscious Of, for
In less than an hour she came suddenly and
breathlessly upon the mouth Of the canyon Or
natural gateway to Eagles Court
To her always q profound spectacle Of
mountain magnifcence, 1t seemed to-day al
most terrible in It's cold, strong grandeur.
The narrowing pass was choked for mo-
ment between two gigantic buttresses of
granite, approaching each other SO closely at
their towering SUBMITS that trees growing
In opposite clefts Of the rocks intermingled
their branches and pointed the soaring
Gothic arch Of stupendous gateway. She
raised her eyes with quickly beating heart.
She knew that the interiacing trees above
her were as large as those she had just quit
ted; she know also that THE point where they
met was only half way up the cliff, for she
had once gazed down upon them, dwindled
to shrubs from the airy summit; she knew
that their shaken cones fall thousand feet
perpendicularly, or bounded like shot from
the SCARED walls they bombarded. She 70.
membered that one Of these pines, dislodged
from its high foundations, bad once dropped
like portcullis In the archway, blocking tbs
pass, and was only carried afterward by as
sault Of steel and FIRE. Bending her head
mechanically, she ran swiftly through ths
shadowy passage, and halted only at the be.
ginning of the ascent on the other side.
Il was here that the actual pos;tion of ths
plateau. SO indefinite Of annroacb becan n
be realized, II now aunearsd an indeneud.n,
elevation, surrounded ON three sides by
eorges and water courses. 40 narrow as tn h
overlooked from the PRINCIPAL mountair
range. with which IL was connacted bv ! Iona
canyon that led to the ridge. At the outlel
of this canyon--in byRone ages a mighty
river-it had the appearance of having beer
slowly raised by the diluvium of that river
and the debris washed down from above
suggestion repeated In miniature by the arti
fetal plateaus Of excayated soil raised beforx
the mouth OF mining tunnels In the lowe,
tanks Of the mountain, Il vas the realixa
tion of faot-oftsn forgotten by the dwell
| ers In Eagles Court--that the valley telou
theIl,. wiith was thes \bunectine Iink VII,
the surrouniing wolf Fas only reached b
ascending the mountain, and the nearest road
was over the higher mountain ridge Never
before had that impressed itself SO strongly
upon the young girl a. when she turned thai
morning to look upon the plateau below her
It seemed to illustrate the conviction thai
had been slowly shaping itself out Of her re-
6ections on the conversation Of that morning
1t was possible that the perfest understanding
Of higher Life was only reached from q
height still greater, and that to those hall
way up the mountain the summit was never
as truthfully revealed - TO the humber
dwellers In the valley.
do not know that these profound truths
prevented her from gathering some quaint
ferns and berries, or from keeping her calm
gray eyes open to certain practical changes
that were taking place around her. She had
noticed singular thickening in the atmos
phere that seemed to prevent the passage Of
the SUMS rays, yet without diminishing the
Transparent quality of the air. The distant
snow peaks were as plainly seen, though they
appeared as II in moonlight. This seemed
due to NO cloud or mist, but rather to q fad.
ing Of the sun ITSELF The occasional furry
Of wings overhead, the whirlinp of larger
birds In the cover, and a frequent rustling In
the underground, Is Of the passage Of some
stealthy animal, began equally to attract her
attention. 1t was 20 different from the ha
bitual silence of these sedate solitudes. Kate
had no vague fear Of wild beasts; she had
been long enough a mouutaineer to under